surveillance at a county building where it seemed all the metered spaces in a four-block area were taken up by drivers with one of these. we wondered could it be possible that so many disabled drivers were doing business every day all day at this county office? on most city streets, you park, you pay. unless you have one of these. and on fourth and fifth between broadway and washington in oakland, it seems like almost everyone does. i've noticed a lot of placards. there is never any street parking. >> a lot of people do on this street here. >> reporter: so we set up watch after getting a tip from a viewer who became suspicious when he noticed the plethora of placards here. the county health services, the coroner, the sheriff's office and right across from oakland pd. do you work over here? you do? >> reporter: we observed people with placards running from their

cars, carrying boxes, even balancing on high heels. and while you can't always spot the disability just by looking at someone, we could see why this spot stood out. how often are your patients asking you for one of these placards? >> i get a request at least once a week. >> reporter: cardiologist walter savidge says he signs just one or two requests a year because he wants his patients to exercise, and because -- >> there is widespread abuse. >> reporter: so it's not yours? >> yes, it is. >> reporter: it doesn't belong to you? >> yes, it does. >> reporter: it belongs to your mother? >> me and my mom is on there. >> reporter: while that may have been confusing, the rules are clear. disabled placards are only issued to one person and can't be loaned to anyone. >> yes, my mom. and she puts me on as her driver to take her places. >> reporter: is she with you right now? >> she is at home. i just left her. >> reporter: she is just one of dozens of drivers we saw day after day. is this your disabled placard? >> yes. the dmv says it's registered to

someone else. >> oh. >> reporter: the dmv tells us it's registered to someone else, not you. >> oh, it must be my mother. >> reporter: nearly half the people we tracked were using a placard or plate registered to someone else. are you using a disabled placard for parking? >>. no. >> reporter: there is one on your dashboard. >> oh. >> reporter: we confirmed at least eight work for the county. is this your first time doing that? >> yes, today. >> reporter: we have you on multiple occasions using your mother's placard to park for free while you work. you work here? >> yes. >> reporter: so does this woman, who receives more than $100,000 in salary and benefits from the county. so do you think it's fair to use someone else's placard so that you can park for free all day? >> no, not particularly. i pay the city. i have a parking space. >> reporter: oh, you do? where is your parking space? >> i really need to go now. >> when you see video like this, what do you think? >> it's pretty egregious

activity. >> reporter: dmv investigator calvin wu said the number of placards has nearly doubled in ten years. >> there is nor opportunity for abuse. >> reporter: and it's not chump change. at $2 an hour, the city could collect up to $20 a day at each of these meters. that adds up to $3,000 a week in just this area. last year oakland parking officers issued 99 citations for placard abuse, netting nearly $50,000 in fines. but the city could be losing up to three times that amount just in this area. as we saw, this meter maid didn't collect a single coin at any of these meters. do you think it's fair that you park for free while your coworkers pay for parking? >> no. no, i don't. >> reporter: those who get caught in the act face fines up to $2,000 and possible jail time. not to mention -- >> i don't want to be filmed on tv. >> reporter: the dmv says if you suspect placard abuse, get a

description of the driver and try to snap a photo of the license plate and the placard number. we have posted a link to the dmv reporting hotline. just go to nbc by area.com and click on investigations. jess and raj, this kind of abuse bothers a lot of people. and the dmv says they really want to know about it. if you see a hot spot, tell them so they can actually take some enforcement action. >> thank you very much. it's very interesting. if you have a tip for our investigative unit, give us a call or send us an e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. have you peeked outside from rain to hail to snow, and tonight it's getting even colder. an eventful weather day in the bay area, and warning for tomorrow. we have team coverage. terry mcsweeney is in livermore, one of the coldest cities in the bay area. but we begin with joint chief meteorologist jeff ranieri from the weather center. what happens tomorrow morning? >> the temperatures continuing to drop. right now we are tracking temperatures that feel like the 20s out here. let's get a look at that radar and that storm system we dealt with today is now pushed well off to the south.

so mainly dry and also clearing conditions. and that is doing this to those temperatures. winds out of the northwest 5 to 15 miles per hour. making it feel like 36 in napa. 34 in novato, and 32 in fairfield. but you zoom into the east bay, and it feels like the mid-20s here from walnut creek down to pleasanton. this will likely also produce a few areas of ice back into the east bay and also the north bay hills, making it dangerous for tomorrow. the top three coldest spots we are honing in on would be santa rosa, livermore, and also los gatos. if you're heading out tomorrow morning, the best tip for you would be to wear those layers and also give your car plenty of time to warm up. we're going to let you know who could go down to 29 degrees coming up in my full forecast. also, what our chances are of rain in that seven-day in just a few minutes. >> okay, jeff. we'll see you shortly. we've seen a bit of everything today, right? from snowboarders on mount diablo to hail in the south bay. this is a storm we desperately need. nbc bay area's terry mcsweeney joins us in livermore this

evening where the temperatures are dropping by the minute. terry, i guess we could say welcome to winter, finally. >> yeah, winter is back with a vengeance here in downtown livermore right now. the bank readout sign says, wait for it, i believe it's going to say 38 degrees. there it is. as we just heard, other parts of the bay area right now where the wind is blowing, it feels like in the 20s. now, you take the rain that came down today and freeze it, you get black ice. for a lot of people today, the big ooh ah was white. snow on bay area mountaintops like mt. hamilton, and a very solid dusting up top at that. and mt. diablo looking so doctor different dressed in winter white. this is what it looked like up top. pictures taken by a man who came all the way from richmond to take them. >> after 12:00 today, to check out the snow. it doesn't really snow out here that often. so it was pretty cool to go out there. it was about a hike of a mile and a half. it was real nice. >> we haven't done it in the nine years we lived here.

we never got the snow up there. we thought today was the day. >> reporter: but alas, today was not the day. the mile-long hike from where the road was closed to where the snow was waiting proved too much for the danville explorers. >> we don't really go to the snow very much. so we were really excited. maying in the snow, but we couldn't really make it. it was long way. >> reporter: eddie romero had never been in snow before. he wore shorts for the occasion. >> don't have pants. >> you don't have pants? >> no. >> reporter: should we take up a collection from our viewers to help you get pants? >> no. >> reporter: from san jose's willow glen neighborhood, we were provided indisputable proof of hail. but come tomorrow morning if you're driving, don't be looking around for white mountain tops. watch out for something you really can't see, black ice. >> it has that name because it doesn't have the typical white frosty look. it just look likes a wet surface. so it's very misleading.

as soon as you hit it, you lose a total loss of coefficient or friction, and it's incredibly hard to maintain your direction. >> reporter: officer says if you do hit black ice, don't panic. gently brake and no sudden steering. after you parked your car, the mountaintops should still be glistening. so take care on the road tomorrow morning. and tonight take care of your pets and your plants. we've got a cold one on the way. live in livermore, terry mcsweeney, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, terry. we've got some photos to share with you. viewers sent these from their neighborhoods today. this handful of hail is from south san jose. and look at this, it could be a postcard, right? a shot from san ramon from mt. diablo covered in snow. if you have photographs, we want to see them. share them with us. go to nbcbayarea.com. click on submit photos at the top of the home page. new at 11:00, a disturbing discovery. someone hiking in a preserve in san mateo county stumbled upon human remains. this happened yesterday afternoon at the creek redwoods

open space. you can see it from the map near woodside. detectives were called to the scene and confirmed the remains were human. they were found about 100 feet off of a trail. detectives are now working to identify those remains. well, it was lights out due to budget cut, but now the city of san jose is flipping the switch. this weekend, crews will be working to reconnect some 900 streetlights that were shut off four years ago. many of those lights are located along major corridors like camden avenue, blossom hill road. the expanded wattage comes just as the city council approved a plan to turn lights back on. something councilmembers say ncaa they have been anxious to do. >> in the throws of our darkest budget days we saved about $92,000 by keeping lights off. we recognize that in many polices, the lights were simply a major concern for residents who were nearby, and we had to do everything we could to find the money to get them up and running again. >> lighting is very important, not just for aesthetics, but for safety.

>> city officials say it will take about three months to get all the lights back on. it's modern day slavery is what it is. >> and investigators say it's happening in these san jose motels. the rescue they made in a sting operation that has them worried about young teenaged girls in the bay area. several inches of powder falls in the sierra, but the storm cripples the interstate. we'll explain how bad it was, and what you can expect tomorrow. i'm covering the giants here in scottsdale, arizona. it's been relatively light in the news department for the giants the first week and a half. but we did have an injury to report on tuesday. we'll tell you how bad it is, coming up in sports.

new details tonight about the prostitution sting in the south bay. for many of us, it's eye-opening what was discovered there. but other says it's common. the bay area sex trafficking scene involving young girls. investigators say one of them started working as a prostitute when she was just 11 years old. nbc bay area's george kiriyama joins us from san jose with the latest. george? >> reporter: and now she is 16, raj. and just think. she has spent a third of her life as a prostitute. and this is exactly what san jose and santa clara county want to end. the exploitation of young girls. it was here on monterey road just south of downtown san jose police say they saved a 16-year-old prostitute during a two-day prostitution sting. >> she was cooperative. she spoke to our detectives. a very sad story. in her statement she basically said she had been doing this since she was about 11 years

old. >> reporter: police say the girl is an east bay runaway who was forced to work the street the past five years. >> it's modern day slavery. >> reporter: santa clara district attorney says cracking down on human traffickers is a big priority. >> these girls are treated like property literally, and moved around the bay area and around california. where they are forced to be child prostitutes. >> reporter: the d.a.'s office says one prosecutor whose full-time focus is on human trafficking cases. rose says it's happening somewhere in the county right now, and it must be stopped. >> where we are right now with human trafficking prosecutions and human trafficking awareness is maybe where we were, say, 30 years ago about domestic violence. >> reporter: the san jose police human trafficking task force launched a two-day sting along monterey road. it's an area with a lot of motels and cars on the road. but literally a block away is the plant shopping center. >> it's really hard to tell, you know, what guess on a lot of times behind a lot of these side

streets. >> reporter: eight people were cited and arrested. the 16-year-old girl was not cited. instead she will be receiving help. >> for her to not only be exposed to it at that young age, but continuously doing it for the next five or six years. and now here we are, we got her off the streets. now it's a matter of getting her some of the services that we provide. >> reporter: and the girl is now with child protective services. it will be up to them to decide whether she will be reunited with her family. live in san jose tonight, george kiriyama, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, george. convicted felon, this man behind bars tonight. san jose police arrested 54-year-old edward brown in connection with a violent assault near the university last week. they say he attacked a woman from behind and stole her purse. if convicted, brown could go to prison for life under the state's three strikes rule. it was a phone call he wanted to make. cal basketball coach might montgomery called the father of his star player and apologized for shoving him during sunday's game. the father and the player, alan

crabbe, remain on good terms with montgomery, and want the controversial incident behind them. here is the coach today. >> it's something i deeply regret. and it's not going to happen again. i had a couple of sleepless nights, and hoping to put it behind us. the team is pretty positive right now. >> montgomery has been a coaching fixture in the bay area for nearly 30 years, and it was completely out of character for him. crabbe also spoke out today. he thinks it all got blown out of proportion and said his coach was just trying to motive him. let's get back to our top story, the weather today. plenty of snow falling in the sierra tonight. 8 to 10 inches to be precise. richard sharp from our nbc station in sacramento is live in blue canyon to show us the conditions right now. must feel cold out there, richard. >> reporter: yeah, it is really cold. you can see the fresh layer of powder behind me. but i got to show you this. this is the kind of snow that fell, light, fluffy, the kind of snow that resorts want to see, especially snowboarders and skiers.

while this storm came through very fast and packed a wallop, it ended a little earlier. but the aftermath was felt all the way through the evening. scraping up a thick layer of packed snow, snowplows are catching up on a storm that caused big problems for the sierra. >> trucks keep stopping, and you almost have to crash. >> reporter: when the storm hit, the snow was so heavy, many drivers couldn't adjust fast enough. the colin powell had to close the interstate for half an hour while several spinouts were cleaned up. >> any time it gets low like that, it stretches out everybody's resources. >> reporter: making the problem worse, chain runners, drivers who don't stop and put on chains. >> thing risk in your hands. >> reporter: today's storm caused him to miss his delivery time because of the closure. >> two and a half hours, three hours on the truckee side. >> that much of a holdup there? >> yeah. >> reporter: how are you going to make it up? >> i'm not. >> reporter: and we're getting a better understanding of how much money and goods and supplies is halted when the interstate closes.

caltrans just finished a six-month study. it found $4.7 million in goods is trucked through the sierra every hour, if it's not closed. you think it's more than that? >> it's more than that. >> reporter: back here live in blue canyon. a quick shake of the balances here and you can see all the powdery snow just falls right off. it is really excitable for the resort s the chp, caltrans expet huge traffic in the sierra as everyone comes up and tries to get some telephone snow. kntv, bay area news. >> thank you, richard. you know who else is excited? >> jeff ranieri. thrilled about this. it's nice to see. the snow here in the bay area. of course, where richard was on the way to tahoe. >> who would have thought in november and december we would have been so excited, about 8 to 10 inches of snowfall. all that weather and here comes 2013. it has been so dry, and a quarter to a half inch makes top headlines across the bay area. the storm system is pushing off

to the south, we're mainly dry and clearing out from the storm system today that produced not only lightning and hail, but yes, even the low snow. look at this picture coming in from the family of that low snow across the santa cruz mountains. a couple of inches for the little guys to sled on down the hillside at elevations of 2 to 3,000 feet. and then we also had the extreme hail reports in napa. and also san jose. it was very small hail, but definitely a sign of the instability with our storm system today. and here is the huge news. more rain in one day than we saw for the entire month of february. livermore picking up a half inch. up until this storm, all you had for february was just 0.05. that is major news, and that is why this storm system, while not strong on the scale of things, is such a big deal. current windchills, 5 to 15 miles per hour making it feel like 36 in napa. 32 in fairfield. grab the jacket for tomorrow mork. let's get you outside of the live sky camera network right now on this tuesday.

and you can see a little bit of cloud cover across the silicon valley. but clear at the extreme lower levels. now let's push up to san francisco. roadways are going to be slick even in the city as we head into tomorrow morning. if you're traveling from the north bay down into sf, that is going to be the most dangerous commute, and here is why. let's get to the temperatures for tomorrow morning. it is expected to drop to 29 in santa rosa, and 30 in napa with some wet roadways still in existence there for tomorrow morning. just from the latest storm system. we are expecting a few areas to form here in the north bay, again, producing a slick commute. it's going to be the black ice. watch out for any kind of spinouts that you may come upon. 34 in san jose. 33 in los gatos, and 35 for santa cruz. if you do come upon some sort of ice, you sense your car sliding, break gently. that is one of the best tips from chp officers to avoid skidding. and be very careful on the bridges and overpasses.

those are typically the first to freeze on over. throughout wednesday increased sunshine. yes, temperatures are going to be warming up. it's going to be a lot nicer there. a little warmer, but i think you'll still need the jacket throughout the afternoon. 56 in los gatos. 57 in santa cruz. very temperate from the interior valleys back to the coastline. no huge temperature extremes expected on wednesday. on the three-day forecast, a light chance of shower on thursday. we'll keep some clouds and cooler weather for friday and throughout saturday. if you want the sunshine, it's coming back next monday and also on tuesday. a lot of people on twitter are going it's not a big storm. what is the big deal, west coast. it's just, again, because of how dry we have been. so we will take it. >> yes, we will. thank you, jeff. >> you're welcome. it was a good day for goingle on wall street, and tomorrow will be a official day for tesla. we'll tell you why. plus, we'll tell you about an injury to the key member of the giants bull pen. sports is coming up.

it's a big number, and it's something google has never managed to do until today. >> it is a big number. the price topped $800 for the first time. the price boosted by a resume they're google may soon open retail stores just as apple has done. and all eyes will be on tesla motors tomorrow. that's when the palo alto-based electric car maker will hold its quarterly earnings call. it's the first financial report since its high profile feud with "the new york times" over an unflattering view of the new model s. we're back in a moment with dave feldman and the report from spring training.

good evening. i'm dave feldman in the comcast sportsnet studios. the warriors and sharks were having a little contest tonight between themselves, each trying to be the first to win a game since prior to the super bowl. that's quite some time. warriors opened the second half of the season in salt lake city against the jazz, and their skid continues. jazz led the entire game, and

they were victorious, 115-101. steph curry had a game-pie hawaii 29 for the warriors who have lost a season high six straight games. they'll host phoenix on wednesday. so how would the sharks do at the blues? third period, game tied at one. puck finds tim on the wing. for the goal, his second of the season. the sharks win, 2-1 in st. louis. they snap a seven-game losing skid. nighttime in scottsdale, arizona. the defending champion giants continuing spring training, but with a scare today. ahmed fareed with more from the desert. >> reporter: there hasn't been a whole lot of news at giants camp, which is bad for the media, but very good for the players and coaches. but we did have an injury on tuesday. out in right field, javier lopez, a reliever, was playing catch. and the next time we looked over, he was on the ground in some oven pain. trainers rushing over to attend to him. at the time he appeared to be holding his left hand or wrist.

he immediately ducked into the clubhouse, and after practice, bruce bochy addressed that injury. >> he took it off the back of the hand. he has a contusion this close to the wrist area. and good news is he is fine. >> so it does appear that javier lopez is going to be okay. i did see him in the clubhouse after practice. no wrap on that wrist, no ice there either. he did indicate early in the spring that he was on the fence if he was going to participate or not in the wbc. at this point with the recent injury, he will probably be out for team puerto rico. reporting in scottsdale with the giants, i'm ahmed fareed, nbc bay area. >> all right, ahmed, thank you very much. i'm dave feldman in the comcast newsroom. and raj and jessica are back with more news after the break.

i'm thirst city already. cheers to baseball and beer. the giants will soon have a new

neighbor in china basin. >> i'll drink to that. the team along with mayor ed lee made the announcement today. anchor brewing company will be the first tenant, and the anchor of the mission rock development project south of the ballpark. the brewery will expand operations to pier 48, transforming the empty building into a brew house. why didn't we think of that? >> since we're the official giants station, maybe we should have an nbc booth tucked away in the back. a studio even, what do you think? >> that would be a good idea. >> tomorrow morning, temperatures in the upper 20s and also low 30s. and watch out for some icy roadways in the north bay and east bay hills. >> thanks for joining us. >> good night. dinner's ready.

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welcome to "the tonight show." thank you very much! [ cheers and applause ] nice to have you all here. thank you very much! well, here is something interesting. according to a report in "the journal on neuroscience," the most unpleasant sound in the world is a knife blade being scraped across a glass bottle. that is considered the most unpleasant sound in the world -- up 'til last week. now it's, "welcome aboard your carnival cruise." [ laughter ] "nice to have you all with us." that is the most unpleasant -- [ applause ] well, folks, you knew this was going to happen. dozens and dozens of lawsuits have already been filed against criminal -- i mean, carnival -- [ laughter ] carnival -- carnival cruise. well, if you thought the ship was filthy, slimy and disgusting, wait until these lawyers get involved. [ laughter ] oh, my goodness. well, a new poll says that 92% of pakistanis dislike americans.